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Australia is one of the biggest allies of the United States, and a key strategic partner for many different military operations. The fact that it is located on the other side of the world means that it is positioned well for many things, including communicating with various spy satellites that orbit over this hemisphere. Their relative proximity to geopolitical adversaries such as China, Russia, and others also makes Australia very helpful in many different ways.
With that in mind, it is no surprise that the US military has people and equipment stationed there. What may surprise many people, however, is that there is a massive top-secret facility in Australia as well.
In 1966, during the Cold War, the United States and Australia signed a treaty that allowed the US to create an intelligence base in Australia’s Northern Territory, just outside Alice Springs. Publicly, this was reported to be a space research facility. In truth, it was a communications facility operated by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).
Information that has been released since its founding has confirmed that the CIA used this facility to collect information from spy satellites, primarily focused on Soviet missiles, nuclear capabilities, and other defense details.
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The facility, commonly referred to just as Pine Gap, was exclusively operated by the United States. Even the Prime Minister of Australia was not permitted in or told exactly what was going on there. In the 1980s, however, this began to shift and the facility expanded with the Australian Defense Force taking an active role in its operation.
Currently, the base is reported to have about 1000 people working there with about half of them coming from Australia and the other half being Americans. The public, however, is still strictly forbidden from entering.
People trying to figure out what goes on at this location are left frustrated as all they can see are the large ‘golf ball’ type structures, which are known to be radomes. The radomes contain radio antennae that communicate with various satellites in Earth’s orbit.
While the details of what else may be at this facility are scarce, it is widely believed that there are large underground facilities where other activity can be conducted. This is how the area gets its nickname of “Australia’s Area 51.” Not surprisingly, this has spawned many conspiracy theories, including the belief that there are aliens or alien technology kept at the facility.
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In reality, that is almost certainly not true. The facility is still operated at least in part by the CIA and is known to be a key information hub for the United States, including gathering and providing information for the anti-terrorism efforts and any military activity in the the Persian Gulf region.
Whatever is actually going on here, it is kept very secret, and that isn’t likely to change.
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